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May 27, 2013 · In the Crosshairs. By Nicholas Schmidle. May 27, 2013. Eddie Ray Routh, left, served in the Marines for four years. Kyle, right, wrote a best-selling memoir about his life as a SEAL. Illustration...
- Nicholas Schmidle
May 28, 2013 · Yesterday, The New Yorker published “In the Crosshairs,” Nicholas Schmidle’s deeply reported 13,000-word investigation into Kyle’s murder and the events surrounding it. Schmidle’s piece ...
May 6, 2024 · Among their ranks, few have captured the imagination of the public like Chris Kyle, hailed as the deadliest sniper in US military history. Yet, beyond the Hollywood portrayal in the box office hit “American Sniper,” lies the enigmatic figure of Chris Kyle, whose life and legacy are far more complex than the silver screen narrative suggests.
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Learn the real-life story of Chris Kyle, the late Navy SEAL sharpshooter portrayed in the Oscar-nominated film “American Sniper.”
Unlike any American before him, Chris Kyle performed his job with pinpoint accuracy. As a sharpshooter serving in Iraq, that job had deadly results. The Pentagon has credited Kyle with over 160 kills. The actual number could be almost double.
The most lethal sniper in American history was the son of a church deacon and a Sunday-school teacher. Growing up in Texas, Kyle hunted with his father and brother. After two years of college and working as a ranch hand, the 24-year-old Kyle quit school and joined the elite Navy SEALs—although he hated water. “If I see a puddle,” he told Time magazine, “I will walk around it.”
After serving in a number of classified missions, Kyle was deployed with members of platoon “Charlie” of SEAL Team 3 to fight in the Iraq War. After landing on the al-Faw Peninsula at the war’s outset in March 2003, the SEALs joined the Marines on their march north toward the capital city of Baghdad. Stationed on rooftops, Kyle and his fellow SEALs protected Marines squads going door to door from insurgent ambushes.
After entering the city of Nasiriya in the war’s early days, Kyle stationed himself atop a building seized by the SEALs. Through the scope of a bolt-action .300 Winchester Magnum, Kyle watched as a Marine convoy approached. Fifty yards away, he suddenly saw the door of a small house open and a woman step outside with her child. As she neared the Marines, Kyle watched through the crosshairs as the woman reached beneath her robe and pulled out a yellow grenade.
“Take a shot,” ordered Kyle’s platoon chief.
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Kyle’s final mission to help his fellow veterans would tragically be his last. The former Navy SEAL often brought troubled veterans along with him to shoot at targets as a way for them to better connect. On February 2, 2013, he invited Eddie Ray Routh, a 25-year-old Marine veteran who had served in Iraq and Haiti, to a shooting range in Glen Rose, Texas. Routh, who reportedly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, allegedly shot and killed the 38-year-old Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield at point-blank range.
To accommodate the mourners, Kyle’s funeral was held inside the Dallas Cowboys football stadium, where the veteran’s flag-draped coffin rested on the 50-yard line. For miles on end, crowds lined the route of the funeral procession to say goodbye to an American soldier who had survived years of combat only to be gunned down in the country he served to protect.
Jun 15, 2013 · Two previous evaluations had recommended Kyle for seal Team Six, the unit that later killed Osama bin Laden, and Kyle had received two Silver Stars for his achievements in combat.
- Brandon Webb
Christopher Scott Kyle (April 8, 1974 – February 2, 2013) was a United States Navy SEAL sniper. He served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat.
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May 27, 2013 · The story of Chris Kyle, a decorated sniper who wrote a best-selling memoir about his life as a SEAL. Kyle’s attempt to help a troubled veteran ended in tragedy: “After Routh arrived at the Dallas V.A., Jodi and Jen visited him in the evenings.
